Starting next July, benefits for the first and second
children in families deemed to be poor will double, the Reform
and Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit parties said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. They’ll rise by two thirds for every
additional child, regardless of household income, the parties
said.

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s government, the only one in
the euro area to post budget surpluses for the last two years,
has been criticized by the opposition Social Democrats for
freezing spending while joining bailouts for richer European
nations. The plan will add 5.2 million euros ($6.7 million) to
the 2013 budget, Isamaa lawmaker Margus Tsahkna said yesterday
by phone.

Estonia passed austerity measures of more than 9 percent of
gross domestic product in 2009, exacerbating a slump that wiped
almost a fifth off economic output in two years. Ansip has made
reversing a declining population his main goal as aging
threatens the long-term budget outlook.

Estonia is the poorest euro member with gross domestic
product per capita of 9,100 euros last year compared with the
25,900 euro average across the currency region’s 17 countries,
according to Eurostat.

The benefits changes will affect about 70,000 children and
are in line with recommendations made by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, the parties said.